Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield will provide three weeks of free health insurance for as many as 20,000 consumers as compensation for delays in issuing ID cards and other customer-service issues, according to the Governor’s Office.

New York’s Department of Financial Services’ investigation into consumer complaints about late-arriving ID cards, as well as Empire’s sending bills late, led to the agreement with the state.

The DFS in early January urged Empire to quickly respond to the complaints of consumers who experienced problems during and after enrolling for coverage through the New York State of Health online marketplace.

In addition to its delays in issuing ID cards, Empire didn’t answer some consumer telephone calls and subjected callers to unreasonably long wait times, according to the Governor’s Office.

Empire has agreed to give cash payments equal to three weeks of premiums to consumers who enrolled through the state marketplace and paid for coverage in January, but did not receive care at that time.

Also, Empire will invest $2 million to educate consumers about the value of insurance, and encourage them to enroll at the state’s online marketplace.

Consumer complaints about insurance carriers can be made by calling the DFS hotline: 212-480-6400 or 800-342-3736.